I Am The Swarm-Chapter 527: Marking

The representatives of the outer-ring civilizations were trembling, but as the weaker party, they had little say in the matter. Moreover, this wasn’t a deliberate targeting by the mid-rim civilizations. Wanting to avoid the fight was out of the question.

“In that case, apart from the coalition forces attacking the Swarm’s 4-6 star systems, the outer-ring coalition forces in other directions should remain stationed where they are. This will prevent the Swarm from reaching the Confederation’s territory, as the distance would be too great for timely reinforcements.”

“That seems feasible. The Swarm’s territory doesn’t have much military presence left. With our forces alone, we should be able to take them down.”

“Agreed.”

“Seconded!”

“…”

——

Before the Interstellar Technological Confederation’s meeting could conclude, the Swarm’s Blades had already obtained the contents of the discussion.

“Excellent. Having insiders really makes things easier. Now that the mid-rim and outer-ring coalition forces are split, once we engage those guys, we won’t have to worry about reinforcements for at least a while.”

“The Overlord has already placed insiders within the coalition and granted us the relevant permissions. Now, all those mid-rim civilization fleets are within our sight.”

As Luo Wen’s understanding deepened, he realized that the forced transformation of intelligent entities—altering their bodies—was merely to assign them the identity of node units. This allowed him, from beyond the universe and above dimensions, to directly locate their positions, extract their spiritual entities, and replace them within the Swarm Network.

However, transforming and altering the bodies of targets wasn’t as intangible as the Swarm Network. Under high-tech instruments, even minor changes in the body could trigger alarms.

To address this, Luo Wen had begun laying the groundwork long ago. The longevity plants he released were one way to modify the bodies of targets without raising suspicion, even under close scrutiny.

After decades of warp travel, the mid-rim civilizations, though not in frequent contact with the outside world, still maintained monthly information exchanges. They had long heard of the super specialty from the Riken star system—the longevity serum.

With the Riken star system now under Swarm control, the Confederation laboratory originally stationed there had long since relocated to the territories of the Koya Alliance and the Locke Mutual Aid Society.

When the mid-rim civilization fleets arrived at the front lines, coincidentally, several batches of longevity serum had surfaced in various places—official, unofficial, and even black markets.

And, by sheer coincidence, these batches were obtained by individuals from various mid-rim civilizations.

After years of clinical use, the longevity serum had an excellent reputation. A detailed set of instructions for its use had also been established. For example, after consumption, it would alter some cellular structures in the body. It was best to report this to inspection agencies in advance to avoid unnecessary complications.

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

The longevity serum was indeed valuable, but its value lay more in the imbalance between supply and demand. In reality, after years of continuous research and refinement, producing the serum wasn’t difficult. Moreover, its raw materials weren’t rare, so its production volume wasn’t low.

However, to the foreign races, a method of extending life without side effects was an absolute necessity. The population of the entire Interstellar Technological Confederation was so vast it was practically incalculable.

Everyone needed this serum. No matter how high its production, it couldn’t meet the demand for everyone immediately. Moreover, the Ji race, which controlled its production and distribution, had no intention of letting the serum spread cheaply and actively limited its production speed.

Thus, something that wasn’t particularly scarce or valuable became exceptionally precious in certain places.

However, in its place of origin, with a little time, one could always find ways to obtain the serum.

So, the mid-rim foreigners who obtained the longevity serum didn’t hide it. Following the instructions, they reported and registered it with inspection agencies.

Then, during their hibernation in warp travel, their bodies underwent some changes. Because they had filed reports, these changes didn’t trigger alarms from their body-monitoring devices.

In this way, without their knowledge, the bodies of these mid-rim foreigners were altered, and Luo Wen successfully located them. The warp environment couldn’t stop Luo Wen. From a higher dimension, he extracted their spiritual entities, modified them, and then reinserted them into their bodies.

The entire process was executed with such skill and speed that their bodies didn’t even realize their consciousness had been extinguished once. They continued functioning out of inertia, without drawing any attention.

The creation of new node units, under the coverage of the Swarm Network, immediately illuminated the positions of the coalition forces, providing real-time intelligence to the Swarm. Moreover, those who had the means to obtain the longevity serum early were no ordinary individuals. To some extent, the Swarm could even influence the coalition’s decision-making.

The Koya Alliance and the Locke Mutual Aid Society, being adjacent to the Swarm, had not only their territories but also their personnel and command systems thoroughly infiltrated over the years. However, with the addition of new forces, it would take some time to reach the previous level of infiltration.

Some races and individuals, due to the precedent set by the Ji race, were highly resistant to the longevity serum. But that wasn’t a problem—the Swarm had prepared a high-end custom version for them.

In earlier years, when the Swarm and the Interstellar Technological Confederation were still engaged in normal trade, a large number of personal bio-armor units had made their way out. The recipients of these bio-armor units were all wealthy or influential individuals, including Elder Humes of the Ji race. Their bodies had long been fully transformed. However, with too few node units around them, the Swarm Network hadn’t yet covered them, allowing them to temporarily escape Luo Wen’s grasp.

But as the Swarm Network expanded, it was only a matter of time before those individuals were brought under his control. Once they were all within the Swarm’s grasp, this war would become even more interesting.

The Blades continued their discussion.

“Among the mid-rim civilizations, a total of thirty-six fleets have been marked. Excluding the ten supporting the central route, there are twenty-six fleets on the flanks. The mid-rim civilizations themselves vary in strength. The two most powerful fleets belong to the Yuntu and Sangqie races, who are among the elite even within the mid-rim civilizations. Analysis of their ship structures suggests the presence of new weapons. The intelligent entities from the Academy speculate that these are likely dark energy weapons.”

An intelligence-focused intelligent entity reported: “Currently, these two fleets are also the fastest. I’ve marked their positions as high priority. If we want to intercept them, we’ll need to allocate more forces.”

“The technological gap between mid-rim civilizations is even greater than that between outer-ring civilizations. The weaker ones are only slightly stronger than the Troi civilization. The stronger ones not only have vastly superior ship parameters but also possess new energy and weapon systems. The Overlord once mentioned wanting a few dark energy power devices for disassembly and research. I think we’ll have to get them from the Yuntu and Sangqie races.”